Home Alone
Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. Kevin initially relishes being home alone, but soon has to contend with two burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. The film also features John Heard and Catherine O'Hara as Kevin's parents. Culkin was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy, and the film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Original Score, which was written by John Williams, and Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory". After its release, Home Alone became the highest-grossing live action comedy film of all time in the United States, and also held the record worldwide until it was overtaken by The Hangover Part II in 2011. For nearly three decades, the film was also the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time until it was surpassed by The Grinch in 2018. Despite the mixed critical reception upon its initial release, Home Alone has been hailed as a holiday classic among audiences, and is often ranked as one of the best Christmas films of all time. Cast * Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, the protagonist * Joe Pesci as Harry, a short and hotheaded thief who targets the McCallisters' home with Marv * Daniel Stern as Marv, a tall and dim-witted thief who targets the McCallisters' home with Harry * John Heard as Peter McCallister, Kevin's father * Roberts Blossom as Marley, Kevin's neighbor * Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister, Kevin's mother * Angela Goethals as Linnie McCallister, Kevin's elder sister * Devin Ratray as Buzz McCallister, Kevin's eldest brother * Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank McCallister, Peter's brother * Hillary Wolf as Megan McCallister, Kevin's eldest sister * Larry Hankin as Officer Balzak * John Candy as Gus Polinski, Kate’s friend and helper * Michael C. Maronna as Jeff McCallister, Kevin's elder brother * Kristin Minter as Heather McCallister, Kevin's eldest cousin * Daiana Campeanu as Sondra McCallister, Kevin's elder cousin * Jedidiah Cohen as Rod McCallister, Kevin's elder cousin * Kieran Culkin as Fuller McCallister, Kevin's youngest cousin * Senta Moses as Tracy McCallister, Kevin's elder cousin * Anna Slotky as Brooke McCallister, Kevin's younger cousin * Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie McCallister, Uncle Frank's wife Production ]] Home Alone was initially a Warner Bros. production; when 20th Century Fox took over the project, the budget grew from $14 to $17 million. Columbus' work with Home Alone began several years earlier when Hughes helped him secure the directing job for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That project ended poorly when a personality clash between Columbus and Chevy Chase led to Columbus leaving the movie. Hughes then gave him the script to Home Alone, which he accepted. Hughes had originally asked Patrick Read Johnson to direct but declined due to his commitment on Spaced Invaders. Johnson would go on to direct Baby's Day Out, another film written and produced by Hughes. Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin in the main role because of his experience with the child actor while shooting Uncle Buck. Columbus met with other actors for the part, by his count "hundreds and hundreds", as he felt it was his "directorial responsibility". It totaled to 200 children. Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice for the role. Due to Culkin's age, he could only work until 10 PM which created shooting problems for the crew because of the movie's many night-time scenes. Casting turned out to be a tremendous task. For the role of Harry Lime, one of the bandits, Robert De Niro, Rowan Atkinson, Bob Hoskins, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Dudley Moore, Phil Collins and Jon Lovitz were considered for the role. However, De Niro and Lovitz both rejected the role, which was ultimately turned over to Joe Pesci. Initially, when the filmmakers approached Daniel Stern to play Marv, his asking price was thought to be too high, so actor Daniel Roebuck was cast as Marv instead. However, after two days of rehearsal, the filmmakers were underwhelmed by Roebuck's chemistry with Pesci, so Roebuck was replaced by Stern. Roebuck later admitted that although he was upset to be fired from the production, he now believes the experience to be "such a little blip of unimportance." Although the role of Uncle Frank was given to Gerry Bamman, the character was originally written for Kelsey Grammer, who would later be known for his iconic role in Frasier. On the set of Home Alone, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern both had difficulty refraining from swear words, which became annoying to Pesci since Culkin was on set as well. In fact, the only swear word that made it into the film was "shit" accidentally said by Daniel Stern when his shoe fell through the doggy door. The film's stunts also created tension for the crew during shooting. Columbus said, "Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts it wasn't funny. We'd watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive." Stunts were originally prepared with safety harnesses, but because of their visibility on camera, the film's final stunts were performed without them. According to Buzzfeed, an injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals where "Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger." Culkin still has the scar. Some scenes were shot in a three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of Winnetka where Hughes' previous films Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, She's Having a Baby and Uncle Buck had also been shot. The kitchen in the film was shot on location, along with the main staircase, basement, attic and most of the first floor landing. The house's dining room, and all the downstairs rooms (excluding the kitchen) were duplicated on a sound stage to allow more room for equipment and crew. The house was built in 1920 and features five bedrooms, a fully converted attic, a detached double garage and a greenhouse. The tree house in the back yard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended. The scenes inside the church were shot at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois. For the film within a film, Angels with Filthy Souls (a parody of the 1938 crime film Angels with Dirty Faces), shooting took only one day. To create the illusion that the film was a 1940s gangster film, the scene was filmed with black-and-white negative film and Johnny's office used authentic items from that era. In May 2011, the house was listed for sale at $2.4 million; it sold in March 2012 for $1.585 million. 'Filming' Principal photography was from February 14 to May 8, 1990.Weekly Variety Magazine; February 14, 1990; Page 28Daily Variety Magazine; May 8, 1990; Page 18 'Music' Initially Columbus hoped to have Bruce Broughton score the films, and early posters listed him as the composer. However, Broughton was busy with The Rescuers Down Under and he had to cancel at the last minute. From there Columbus was able to get in touch with Steven Spielberg who helped him contact John Williams to produce the final score. Christmas songs, such as "O Holy Night" and "Carol of the Bells", are featured prominently in the film, as well as the film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory". The soundtrack was released by Sony Classical in cassette on December 4, 1990 and in CD on May 27, 2015. References External links * Home Alone on IMDb Category:1990 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:1990s criminal comedy films Category:American Christmas films Category:American criminal comedy films Category:Burglary in film Category:Christmas comedy films Category:Films set in Illinois Category:Films shot in Illinois Category:Home Alone (franchise) Category:Home invasions in film Category:20th Century Fox films Category:Films scored by John Williams Category:Films directed by Chris Columbus Category:Films produced by John Hughes (filmmaker) Category:Screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) Category:American children's comedy films Category:1990s Christmas films